Upside-down Butterscotch Apple Sour Cream Cake

Had a large-ish family party last night. I made two desserts among other things. One was a poached pear and caramelized pistachio tart, the other was an upside-down butterscotch apple sour cream cake. Both turned out delicious. The tart had a little trouble holding together though. The Pastry cream wasn't quite thick enough and the crust was a little bit brittle. The upside-down cake turned out just about perfect. It was a lot simpler to make too. It was so easy and delicious I decided to make another one today. The recipe comes from the march 2006 issue of Bon appetit magazine.


Upside-Down Butterscotch Apple Sour Cream Cake

Cake

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
2/3 cup bakers sugar (superfine sugar) or regular sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 Golden delicious apple, peeled, cored, finely chopped

Butterscotch caramel apples

6 tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/3 cup butterscotch morsels
2 golden delicious apples, peeled, cored, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices

For cake

Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in a large bowl until smooth. Gradually add sugar and beat until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until well blended. Beat in flour mixture, then sour cream. Stir in chopped apple. Set aside while preparing butterscotch caramel apples.

For butterscotch caramel apples

Melt butter in 10 inch diameter nonstick skillet with an ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add brown sugar and butterscotch morsels and stir until melted and smooth and mixture is still bubbling, about 2 minutes. Add slices to skillet and cook until golden, about 3 minutes per side (there will be lots of liquid in the skillet. Remove from heat and let cool for 3 minutes. Using tongs arrange apple slices in skillet into concentric circles or other pattern.

carefully spoon cake batter in small dollops atop apples in skillet. Using offset spatula, gently spread batter evenly to edges of skillet (batter will seem to float on top of apples and pan juices). Bake until cake is golden brown and tester comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool in skillet 10 minutes. Run knife edges of cake to loosen. Place large platter atop skillet. Using oven Mits or potholders, hold platter and skillet firmly together and invert, allowing cake to settle onto platter. Serve Warm.

To come: my improvized appetizer that everyone loved.